Smoking Ban Discussed By City Council

There will be no smoking ban in certain areas of Trenton, at least for now, as members of the Trenton City Council on Monday night chose to table the topic during its regular meeting.
Elizabeth Gibson and Abby Obberman of the Grundy County Health Department and Jamie Baker of the Missouri Department of Health and Human Resources attended the council meeting to distribute information and discuss with the city its interest in establishing an ordinance that would ban smoking in businesses, restaurants and bars. Their discussion was based on a survey earlier this year in which 63 percent of those responding to the survey indicated they would support local laws making indoor workplaces (including bars and restaurants) smoke-free.
Much of the discussion centered around whether or not the city should be regulating what a business can or cannot do. While many of the council members expressed an understanding for the request, at least three of them indicated how enforceable such an ordinance would be and whether or not the city should be asking for the ban. Trenton resident Brad Chumbley said that such as ordinance would hurt his business, Chumbley’s, which he said was getting ready to open an eating establishment as part of his business. He said he felt the ordinance would be penalizing a small number of businesses, noting that most restaurants in town have a non-smoking section. An ordinance, if approved, would ban smoking inside altogther, but would allow establishment of a smoking area outside.
There was also concern expressed by council members about the number of persons who actually participated in the survey, noting they felt it was a small response number. Around 2,000 surveys were sent to households with 64683 zip codes in January, with 601 of those surveys returned. Of those responses, 360 were from non-smokers, 145 were from former smokers, 94 were from smokers and two preferred not to answer.
Following the discussion, council members decided to table the issue until a later time. Several council members indicated they would be looking at the information presented by the health department in more depth prior to any additional future discussion.
The council approved two ordinances during its meeting.
On an 8-0 vote, the council agreed to authorize an agreement between the city and the Missouri Department of Economic Development that would provide a $500,000 grant to the city for use in replacement of the 17th Street Railroad Bridge. The grant would be used with other funds provided from other sources for the project and is the first step in securing those monies.
Another ordinance allowing for the closure by Union Pacific Railroad of a railroad crossing at the intersection of 40th Street and NW Crane Lane was pulled from the agenda and will be considered at the Nov. 9 council meeting. Closing the crossing is among actions being taken by officials to help generate additional money for the 17th Street Bridge project.
The seccnd ordinance approved by the council allows for the city to seek funding from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to create an engineering report to help the city comply with national and state drinking water regulations. The funds would allow for Trenton Municipal Utilities to develop a three-phase plan to address future water system improvements and needs. TMU Director Chad Davis said he has been told that as much as 85 percent of the estimated $40,700 in engineering costs negotiated for the work by Burns and McDonnell could be re-imbursed by the grant.
Also requested by Councilman Elliott was a discussion regarding the city ordinance for “jake brakes,” which Elliott said remains a problem. The city has an ordinance prohibiting noise made by the brakes. Lt. Rex Ross said the police department receives very few concerns about the noise. City Administrator Kerry Sampson said that any additional signage would require approval of the state.
Mayor McHargue recognized volunteers who helped with the Missouri Day Festival, noting he has received a lot of good comments about this year’s event. He also thanked Buddy and Karla Hannaford for their efforts in organizing the marching festival activities.
In other business, the council:
• approved the bid from B&B Transformers to purchase five polemounts and three padmounts at a cost of $17,990. It was the lowest of three bids received, with all bids having a three-year warranty and all bids being for remanufactured units.
• approved a bid from MFA Oil of Trenton to purchase fuel oil for city-operated electric generators. The cost was for $1.645 per gallon and while it was the highest of two bids received, it was determined that the price fell within the city policy of purchasing from a local vendor when the price comes within 5 percent. The second bid from Brownfield Oil Co. of Moberly was $1.627 per gallon.
• appointed five persons as members of a domestic violence surcharge board that will disburse funds collected through municipal fines for use by the women’s and children’s abuse shelter. The members include Don Warren, John McCullough, Fred Zeiger, Patti Quilty and Barb Hawkins.
• was told that 11,722 tons of asphalt was sold by the city this year, compared to 6,367 tons a year ago. Street Supervisor Martin Schieb said the city will also need to be looking at replacement of an asphalt pit used to remove lime from the asphalt during processing.
• heard an update from Building Inspector Donnie Vandevender concerning recent business building improvements in town, including Casey’s on 28th St., American Family Insurance, McDonald’s, the former D&K Computer building, Hometown Pharmacy and Rexlaxation Therapy.
• is planning to meet in either November or December for a retreat to begin the strategic planning process. Mayor Dr. Nick McHargue expressed his concern about the city spending money for “someone to listen to us” when employees are “underpaid” and “morale is low.” An outside person is to be used to moderate the planned all-day session.
An executive session for real estate was held with no announcement made.